How About Them Apples!

This week the homeschoolers cooking workshop groups was all about apples. This was not only an opportunity to explore a diversity of apple recipes including a butternut squash and apple soup, apple crisp, and apple sauce, but it was also an opportunity to explore the leading role that the apple plays in stories and lore throughout the ages and throughout the world.

How many stories can you name that lean on the symbolism of the apple? Snow White and the Genesis story of Adam and Eve are often the first ones that come to mind but scratch below the surface and there are so many more! Greek mythology and Norse mythology are good place to start in order to expand the landscape and observe the apple’s appearance in story and literature. Noticing how often the apple appears and the similarity of the role it plays in theses stories was a fantastic place to start exploring what symbolism is, how it is used in story.

We also explored all the sayings, idioms, and lore that is rooted in the apple. Exploring some of these phrases is an opportunity to look into current events and larger issues of justice, and sometimes it is just fun. “Just a few bad apples”, opens up the space to talk about current struggles that communities have with policing, for example. Where “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” many call up fewer big emotions, but nevertheless is an insight into the role of popular wisdom. How many phrases can you think of that contain apples? There were no less than 12 that we discussed, and I’m sure we missed some!

If your young person in the KW region is interested in participating in these workshops, please drop us a line! If there is interest but your families availability doesn’t line up with the times I have already scheduled, please also drop us a line and lets investigate if there are options to make it work!